Posts Tagged ‘patterns’

Sponsored Style: Sweater Tunic with Indiesew

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This post is sponsored by Indiesew. Get bundles of PDF patterns from your favorite independent apparel pattern makers at a discount!

Find patterns, browse projects made by community members and beef up your sewing skills all in one spot!

I’m thrilled to be partnering with Indiesew to help debut their spring collection! It’s been fun to find out about new-to-me designers through their collection bundles.

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The Marianne dress from Christine Haynes really caught my eye. I love the possibilities for pattern play in View B and the sweet collar in View A is screaming to be made out of some sweet floral (which I need to find).

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Mother Nature has a funny  sense of humor this year. We have absolutely NO SNOW in our mountain (we should have 4-5′ of snow drifts this time of year). I’ve even seen a couple of tulip sprigs pup up between the mounds of dirt in our front yard. We need snow! I need more winter!

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It’s still fairly chilly, so between that and my desperation for more snow I sewed up a sweater tunic variation of the Marianne. Printing and taping the PDF took longer than cutting and sewing the pattern. The instructions are very straight forward and the fit is true to size. Even with hemming and finishing edges (I like lots of topstitching), this still took me about an hour to make.

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Here’s what I did differently from the pattern:

  • I cut the sleeves 19″ from the shoulder seam notch, tapering them in gradually just like the pattern
  • I cut the front and back bodice short to make it a top. Front piece is 16 inches and back is 17.5 inches (not including seam allowances)
  • Since I was planning on the side slits, I didn’t cut as dramatic an a-line for the bodice
  • I sewed the side seams to just about 9 inches below the armpit seam and made slits on both sides

I’m thrilled with the final piece. I didn’t do any tailoring or fitting afterward. Mega win. The only thing that I could have changed was that I accidentally cut the bottom knit perpendicular to the grain. So it stretches vertically instead of horizontally. There’s still some horizontal stretch, so it works. But if you look at it closely, you’ll see the knit is horizontal when it should be vertical. OOPS! That’s what I get for rushing. :)

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I’ve been kind of in a little bit of a dark grunge zone lately. The black nail polish, monochromatic clothing and acid wash jeans are all things I’m totally crushing on lately. Now all I need is the right leather jacket and I’m set! I found one this weekend that’s close, but the fit wasn’t quite there. Any suggestions on places to hit up for a leather jacket?

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Outfit details:

Save an extra 10% for the first 25 people that purchase the spring bundle! Use code: SPRING15

This post is sponsored, but all writing/thoughts/opinions are my own.

Squid Drawing + Leafy (someday) Patterns

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I’ve been on a pen & ink fix right now. I’ve been hand lettering and drawing every chance I get thanks to the inspiration from my friend and this talented lady. My brother-in-law thinks this looks like a squid of some sort, I agree. It does remind me of being under water. I’m really happy how it turned out. I also wanted to do something a little different, and started drawing leaves. I like how it turned out, I’m going to leave the drawing as-is and turn it into a pattern. I’m also on a pattern kick right now, too.

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Print this artwork at home! Click the button to download. All artwork is subject to melissaesplin.com terms of use. This artwork is for personal use ONLY.

UPDATE: I finished the leafy pattern! Check out the pattern and download it for twitter/desktop here!
 

On the street: High-waisted skirt

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I’m in a sewing craze right now. Seriously, I’m day dreaming in patterns, and I keep thinking up ideas for outfits for Penelope and other little girls [I have a few pregnant friends]. I’ve got to get cracking before my motivation wanes. Last Friday when I was feeling particularly ambitious, I sewed a skirt! I can’t claim the pattern my own; it’s been modified from Simplicity’s 3673 1950’s retro dress pattern.

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I can’t express how much I love this skirt. It fits me PERFECTLY, it’s slimming [at least I think so] and it’s amazingly comfortable. This is the best sewing I’ve done in my life. Period. End. I should mention, however, it has one little problem: I can’t squeeze into it from the top. I have to unzip and shimmy into it from the bottom. I should have put in a longer zipper. OH well. It still works.

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The original pattern has a very high waistline and darts in the front [I hate front darts, they never seem to look right]. I nixed the front darts and made puckers in the back instead [adding a little umph to the blegs]. I also sinched up the hips to follow my hips a little better. Now I’m looking for any excuse to wear this little number out. Chris, you wanna ask me out on a date?

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P.S. I’m totally addicted to the Sartorialist right now. I love that blog.

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